Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Today I Learned that Shakespeare's little brother Edmund (born 1580) followed him to London to become an actor.

Who wants to speculate on connections between little brother, and Shakespeare's most famous bastard from King Lear? Edmund had a bastard child of his own, though the child was born four months before Edmund's death in 1607, making the event too late to have any connection to King Lear, which was written prior to 1606.

How cool would it be if Edmund went to London and actually stayed with his brother during that time, maybe even acting in one of the plays? No records exist, but does that mean it didn't happen?

Edmund is buried in Southwark Cathedral, 5mins walk from the old and new Globes..and the records show that his funeral was marked by a tolling of the bell.. a relatively expensive thing to have done to mark the passing of a friend or relative.It's presumed William was the one who paid for that.